Let’s take a closer look at the Phoenixborn of Gobi, Orrick Gilstream! Orrick is a very versatile Phoenixborn with a unique ally that can be quite challenging to overcome. Orrick Is once again available at our web store, so we thought we’d take a closer look at the Phoenixborn of Gobi and recommend a deck to go along with him!

The Essential Rundown on Orrick Gilstream

The Stats:

Orrick is the man that tries to do everything. He has all the dice in the world, and all the magic types within them. If you can't decide between Charm, Ceremonial, Nature, and Illusion, Orrick is the Phoenixborn for you. With him, you play them all.

Life Value 19: Orrick weighs in at just a hair above average with his life total. With average around 18, Orrick gains just a point. That single point can mean a lot, though, and definitely means the Phoenixborn of Gobi is on the sturdier side.

Battlefield Value 5: 5 battlefield is perfectly average. It's a number that won't be overly constraining, but also won't allow you to flood the battlefield to overwhelm your opponent. You will usually be fighting against even space. With Orrick’s large excess dice, it can be easy to fill up the battlefield and make it seem constraining - it will be important to use some of his dice on bigger threats or find uses that don't add to your battlefield. Action spells, alterations, and more can all help you accomplish this.

Spellboard Value 4: Again, Orrick lands on the most common value for the stat. 4 spellboard turns out to be a reasonable amount of space allowing you to support a variety of Ready spells. It's slightly harder to play temporary spells like Chant of Protection or the upcoming Laws, but you can usually find a consistent strategy to support with four slots.

Bounty: Bounty is definitely the part of Orrick that most defined him. Used to its fullest, it grants you a staggering 2 extra dice each round - that's 20% more dice than your opponent! It has a small cost though - you have to be playing at least four colors. With this, you can end up with all ranges of things from wacky to powerful. You can play combos of cards that you normally can't see because of their broad dice restrictions. You can pick your favorite and most powerful cards from each color. Or you can simply lean heavy into one or two colors and have some extra dice powers to support you. With Orrick, you can do anything. Be sure, however, to watch out for Choke from the Children of Blackcloud. Each choke can turn you from a 20% dice advantage for the round to a 20% disadvantage

Stalwart Guardians

Orrick’s childhood friends carry huge shields and have the stats to back them. With a staggering 5 toughness and 3 recover, the Gobi Sunshields can take definitely take a punch. And with their ability, Alert, they can throw back a few punches of their own - sticking around to fend off each attacker while hammering them away. While 4 dice is a pricey cost to pay, Bounty will help you take care of their payment. Orrick isn't just going to underpay his lifelong allies.

The Strategy of…

Orrick has no preconstructed deck, so I've provided one that you can use to play with him against others. It intentionally includes no cards from The Duchess of Deception or The Roaring Rose, so this is a great deck to try against them!

This deck mixes a variety of controlling and aggressive elements to let Orrick use his dice flexibility for whatever best suits him at the moment. Orrick can do anything, so we're going to let him do everything. Make your Gobi Sunshield even better blockers with Crystal Shield, Fade Away your opponent’s units and replace them with Blood Puppets, and whittle your opponent's battlefield and life total with Chant of Revenge + Frostbite. A lot of options exist within the deck, and each game can let you explore more.

The Defenders of Gobi

Dice Pool

4 Nature, 3 Ceremonial, 2 Illusion, 1 Charm

Cards

3x Anchornaut

3x Hammer Knight

3x Gobi Sunshield

3x Summon Gilder

3x Frost Bite

3x Chant of Revenge

3x Summon Blood Puppet

3x Crystal Shield

3x Fade Away

3x Hidden Power

Hold the Line

That’s all for now! Orrick is certainly an interesting Phoenixborn to play and capitalizing on his extra dice is a huge part of his success. Be sure to try him out against other Phonixborn soon!

Click here to purchase Orrick via our web store and remember, “The Laws of Lions” and “The Song of Soaksend” Deluxe Expansions will both be available soon from retailers and on our own web store.

Written by Elliot KramerElliot Kramer is a competitive Ashes player and contributor to the Ashes Community. You can find more of his articles on Strange Copy.